USPTO Patents Application 10711966

(19)

J

(12)

(43) Date of publication:

02.10.1996 Bulletin 1996/40

(21) Application number: 96104967.3

(22) Date of filing: 28.03.1996

Europaisches Patentamt
European Patent Office
Off ice europeen des brevets (11) EP 0 735 505 A2

EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION

(51) lnt.CI.6: G06K 19/00

(84) Designated Contracting States:
DE FR GB

(30) Priority: 31.03.1995 J P 76429/95

(71) Applicant: Tokai Rika Co., Ltd.
Nlwa-gun, Aichl-ken 480-01 (JP)

(72) Inventor: Kokubu, Sadao,
c/o Tokai Rika Co., Ltd.

Oiiguciii-cho, Nlwa-gun, Alohi-ken, 480-01 (JP)

(74) Representative: KUHNEN, WACKER & PARTNER
Alois-Steinecker-Strasse 22
D-85354 Frelsing (DE)

(54) 10 caid

(57) To protect a contact (10) provided in a surface
of the 10 card(28) and reduce its size for the carrying
thereof, a card body (1) of the 10 card (28) is composed
of first and second halves (la, lb) connected by a self
hinge portion (5) so as to be foldable into halves in such
a manner that the surface where the contact (10) is pro-
vided comes inside. The first and second halves (1a,
1b) are provided with a magnet (17) and a magnetic
body (18) to hold the IC card (28) folded by magnetic
attractive force. When folded, a control section provided
in the first half (1a) is connected to transmitting-receiv-
ing means and a communication control section that are
provided in the second half (lb), by the contact (10) and
the transmission-reception contact (15), so that the IC
card (28) can function as a non-contact type IC card.

FIG. 1 (b)

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Printed by Rank Xerox (UK) Business Services
2.13.6/3.4

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Description

The present invention relates to an IC card for
transmitting data to and receiving data from an external
device via contacts. 5

IC cards are used as, for example, cash dispensing
cards or credit cards. Typical IC cards are of contact
type in which exposed contacts are provided in a sur-
face of the card body. By directly contacting the contact
of such an IC card with the contact of a terminal (exter-
nal device) connected to a host computer, data commu-
nication therebetween can be performed. The contact
type IC cards have advantages in that they can be pro-
vided with simple constructions and low costs.

However, since the contact of a contact type IC card
is exposed all the time, the surface of the contact is
likely to oxidize or become dirty with dust or dirt from
hands. Thus, the contact type IC cards have problems
with possible deterioration of the reliability of good con-
tact with the contact of a terminal or low durability. Fur-
thermore, since the size of IC cards is standardized, the
card body is rather large compared with the IC part and
thus inconvenient to carry.

The present invention is intended to solve the
above-stated problems. An object of the invention is to
provide an IC card which can protect the contacts pro-
vided in a surface of the card body and which enables
the card body to be reduced in size for the carrying of
the IC card.

To achieve the above-stated object, according to
the present invention, there is provided an IC card char-
acterized by comprising: a card body; a contact pro-
vided in a surface of the card body; storing means for
storing various data; and control means for transmitting
data to and receiving data from an external device via
the contact and for writing into or reading from the stor-
ing means the data to be transmitted or received, the
card body comprising a hinge portion which allows the
card body to be folded substantially into halves in such
a manner that the surface provided with the contact
comes inside.

Preferably the IC card comprises holding means for
holding the card body folded in substantially halves.

It is also preferred that, of the substantial halves of
the card body folded, a first half be provided with the
contact, the storing means and the control means, and
that a second half be provided with: transmitting-receiv-
ing means Ibr transmitting various data to or receiving
various data from the external device by using an air-
propagating signal; a transmission-reception contact
provided so as to contact said contact when the card
body is folded substantially in halves; and communica-
tion control means for achieving data transmission and
reception between the control means and the transmit-
ting-receiving means via the transmission-reception
contact.

The card body of the invention has a hinge portion
and can be folded into halves in such a manner that the
surface provided with the contact comes inside. There-

fore, the surface of the contact can be protected, and
the size reduction of the card body to half makes the IC
card easy to carry.

In a preferred construction of the invention, since
the IC card has holding means for holding the card body
folded substantially in halves, the card body will not
unfold when the IC card is carried, thus further facilitat-
ing the carrying of the IC card.

In a further preferred construction, when the card
body is folded substantially into halves, the contact and
the transmission-reception contact will be electrically
connected to enable the data transmission and recep-
tion between the control means provided in the first half
and the communication control means provided in the
second half. In addition, the transmitting-receiving
means provided in the second half enables the non-
contact data transmission and reception in conjunction
with an external device.

The foregoing and further objects, features and
advantages of the present invention will become appar-
ent from the following description of preferred embodi-
ments with reference to the accompanying drawings,
wherein:

Fig. 1 A and 1 B are plan and side views of the over-
all construction of a first embodiment of the IC card
of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of substantially essential
portions of the first embodiment, illustrating how the
contacts make contact when the IC card is folded in
halves;

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the electrical construc-
tion of the first embodiment; and
Fig. 4 illustrates a second embodiment of the inven-
tion.

A first embodiment of the present invention will be
described with reference to Figs. 1 to 3.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a card body 1 is formed
by adhering synthetic resin sheets 3, 4 to the obverse
and reverse surfaces of a synthetic resin card base 2. A
self hinge portion 5 serving as a hinge portion and is
formed in a central portion of the card body 1 , dividing
the card body 1 into a first half 1a and a second half 1b.
The self hinge portion 5 is unitary with the first and sec-
ond halves la, lb. The self hinge portion 5 allows the
card body 1 to be folded into halves so that the obverse
surfaces of the first and second halves la, 1 b face each
other. The card body 1 has a normal size according to
the standard. The longitudinal dimension of the card
body 1 is D, and the lateral dimension is W. The halves
1a, lb of the card body 1 have a longitudinal dimension
of D/2 and a lateral dimension of W.

An end portion of the card base 2 in the first half la
is provided with a rectangular through hole 6 having a
step 6a on which a printed board 7 is mounted. The
printed board 7 is packaged with an IC chip (bare chip)
8 fixed to the reverse surface thereof by adhesion. The
IC chip 8 is electrically connected by wire bonding to a

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EP0 735 505 A2

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wiring pattern formed of copper foil or the like (not
shown) on the reverse surface of the printed board 7.
Insulation is achieved by an insulation layer 9 formed of
a resin molding on the reverse side of the printed board
7.

A flat plate-shaped contact 10 having eight contact
points is provided in the obverse surface of the printed
board 7. The contact 10 is electrically connected to the
copper foil wiring pattern. The sheet 3 has an opening
formed in an portion thereof corresponding to the con-
tact 1 0 so that the contact 1 0 is exposed.

An end portion of the card base 2 in the second half
lb is provided with a rectangular through hole 1 1 having
a step 1 la. A printed board 12 is embedded in the card
base 2 in such a manner that an end portion of the
printed board 12 faces the through hole 11 and abuts
the step 11a. The printed circuit board 12 is packaged
with an IC chip 1 3 mounted on the reverse surface (the
upper surface in Fig. 2) of the end portion of the printed
circuit board 12. The IC chip 13 is covered with an insu-
lation layer 14. A projected transmission-reception con-
tact 15 having eight contact points and formed of an
electrically conductive Ag compound rubber is mounted
on the obverse surface (the lower surface in Fig. 2) of
the end portion of the printed board 12. Tip portions of
the transmission-reception contact 15 extend through
and protrude from the sheet 3.

When the card body 1 is folded so that the first and
second halves la, lb face each other as shown in Fig.
2, the projected transmission-reception contact 15 and
the contact 10 are electrically connected with the tip
portions of the projected transmission-reception contact
15 contacting the surface of the contact 10 while being
elastically deformed.

A rectangular loop antenna coil 16 is formed by pat-
terning a conductive material in the portion of the
printed board 12 of the second half lb other than the
aforementioned end portion. A long magnet 1 7 serving
as holding means is embedded in the first half la of the
card body 1, extending parallel with a side end of the
first half la remote from the self hinge portion 5. A long
magnetic body 18 serving as holding means and
formed of a magnetic metal is embedded in the second
half lb, extending parallel with a side end of the second
half lb remote from the self hinge portion 5. When the
card body 1 is folded into halves, the magnetic body 18
is attracted to the magnet 1 7, thus holding the card body
1 folded.

Fig. 3 illustrates the electrical construction of the IC
chips 8, 13 of the first and second halves 1 a, 1 b, indicat-
ing various functions by separate blocks.

In the first half la, a ground input terminal Ga of a
control section (control means) 19 including a CPU,
etc., is connected to a terminal G of the contact 10. A
power input terminal Va of the control section 19 is con-
nected to a terminal V of the contact 10. A clock input
terminal CKa, a reset input terminal Ra and a data
input-output terminal Da of the control section 19 are
connected to terminals CK, R and D of the contact 10,

respectively. The control section 19 is connected to a
storing section (storing means) 20 constituted by, for
example, EEPROM, by address and data bus lines and
a control signal line.

5 In the second half lb, the positive pole of a battery
21 is connected to a power input terminal Vb of a com-
munication control section (communication control
means) 22 including a GPU, etc., and the negative pole
of the battery 21 is connected to a terminal G of the

10 transmission-reception contact 15. A power output ter-
minal Vo of the communication control section 22 is
connected to terminal V of the transmission-reception
contact 15. The power output terminal Vo selectively
supplies power to the power input terminal Va of the

15 control section 19 via the transmission-reception con-
tact 15 and the contact 10. A reset signal output termi-
nal Rb and a data input-output terminal Db of the
communication control section 22 are connected to ter-
minals R and D of the transmission-reception contact

20 15, respectively. The communication control section 22
supplies a control signal from a clock control terminal
Gc to a clock circuit 23 to control the output of clock sig-
nal.

A clock signal output terminal of the clock circuit 23

25 is connected to a terminal CK of the transmission-
reception contact 15 so that a clock signal can be sup-
plied to the clock signal input terminal GKa of the control
section 1 9. Further, since the clock signal from the clock
circuit 23 is also used as a synchronizing signal for data

30 transmission and reception between the control section
19 and the communication control section 22, the clock
signal output terminal of the clock circuit 23 is also con-
nected to the clock signal input terminal CKb of the
communication control section 22.

35 The communication control section 22 supplies a
data input terminal of a transmitting section 24 with data
to be transmitted and also supplies the transmitting sec-
tion 24 with a control signal so as to control modulation
of the data to be transmitted. The transmitting section

40 24 supplies a transmission signal to the antenna coil 1 6
via a switching section 25. The switching section 25
supplies the signal received by the antenna coil 16 to a
receiving section 26. A data output terminal of the
receiving section 26 is connected to a received-data

45 input terminal of the communication control section 22.
The communication control section 22 supplies a
control signal to the receiving section 26 to control
demodulation of received signals. The communication
control section 22 also supplies the switching section 25

50 with a switching signal for switching data transmission
and reception via the antenna coil 1 6. The switching sig-
nal is normally in a reception status and is made into a
transmission status only when the communication con-
trol section 22 is to perform transmission. The antenna

55 coil 16, the transmitting section 24, the switching sec-
tion 25 and the receiving section 26 constitute transmit-
ting-receiving means 27. The IC card 28 is constructed
as described above.

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The operation of the first embodiment will be
described. When the first and second halves 1a, 1b of
the IC card 28 are unfolded to form an angle of 180°
therebetween, the IC card 28 functions as a contact
type IC card. More specifically, when the thus-unfolded 5
IC card 28 is inserted into a terminal (external device,
not shown), the contact 1 0 is electrically connected to a
contact provided in the terminal so that power, a reset
signal and a clock signal are supplied to the power input
terminal Va, the reset signal input terminal Ra and the ro
clock signal input terminal CKa of the control section 1 9,
respectively, via the corresponding terminals of the con-
tact 10.

Then, when the reset signal is canceled, the control
section 19 is started. The control section 19 first reads is
out an ID code specifically assigned to the 10 card 28
from the storing section 20, and converts the ID code
into serial data, and then transmits the serial data to the
terminal via the contact 10 and the contact of the termi-
nal. Upon receiving the ID code of the IC card 28, the 20
terminal performs predetermined operation and then, in
accordance with the operation, transmits to the control
section 19 a read-out or write-in command signal in the
form of serial data. The control section 19 reads out
data from the storing section 20 in accordance with the 25
command signal, and then converts the data into serial
data or writes in the storing section 20 the serial data
transmitted from the terminal.

On the other hand, when the IC card 28 is folded
into halves so that the surface thereof in which the con- 30
tact 10 is provided comes inside, the exterior size of the
IC card 28 becomes D/2 in longitudinal dimension and
W in lateral dimension, and the magnet 17 provided in
the first half la and the magnetic body 18 provided in
the second half lb are attracted to each other by mag- 35
netic force. When the IC card 28 is thus folded, the con-
trol section 19 of the first half la is connected to the
transmitting-receiving means 27 and the communica-
tion control section 22 provided in the second half lb, by
the contact 10 and the transmission-reception contact 40
1 5. Thus, the 10 card 28 functions as a non-contact type
IC card.

In this case, the communication control section 22
intermittently supplies a control signal to the receiving
section 26 so that the receiving section 26 intermittently 45
performs reception (demodulation), in order to limit the
power consumption of the battery 21. A non-contact
type terminal (external device, not shown) intermittently
transmits to the 10 card 28 a question signal in the form
of an electromagnetic signal, that is, an air-propagating so
signal. When the IC card 28 enters the reception area of
the question signal, that is, the antenna coil 1 6 electro-
magnetically couples with a transmission antenna coil
of the terminal, so that the antenna coil 16 receives the
question signal, the question signal is then supplied to 55
the receiving section 26 via the switching section 25.

When the receiving section 26 demodulates the
received signal during intermittent reception, the receiv-
ing section 26 outputs to the communication control

section 22 the received data of the demodulated ques-
tion signal in the form of serial data. Upon receiving the
question signal, the communication control section 22
outputs power to the power output terminal Vo and sup-
plies a control signal to the clock circuit 23 so that the
clock circuit 23 outputs a clock signal, and the commu-
nication control section 22 then supplies the power and
the clock signal to the control section 1 9. When a prede-
termined length of time subsequently elapses, the com-
munication control section 22 cancels the reset signal to
start the control section 19.

When started, the control section 19 reads the IC
code of the IC card 28 from the storing section 20, and
converts the 10 code into serial data, and then transmits
the serial data to the communication control section 22
via the terminals D of the contact 10 and the transmis-
sion-reception contact 15, as described above. The
communication control section 22 then supplies a con-
trol data and the ID data to the transmitting section 24 to
start the transmission section 24 modulating.

After modulating the ID data into, for example, FM
(frequency modulation) signal, the transmitting section
24 transmits the modulated signal to the antenna coil 16
via the switching section 25. The antenna coil 16 then
transmits the modulated signal to the terminal. Upon
receiving the ID code of the 10 card 28, the terminal per-
forms a predetermined operation and then, in accord-
ance with the operation, conducts transmission and
reception as described above so that data stored in the
storing section 20 is read out or rewritten.

According to this embodiment, since the card body
1 of the 10 card 28 is generally composed of the first and
second halves la, 1b interconnected by the self hinge
portion 5 so as to be foldable in such a manner that the
surface in which the contact 10 is provided comes
inside, the surface of the contact 10 can be protected
from oxidation or staining with dust or the like. In addi-
tion, the size reduction of the 10 card 28 into half make
the 10 card 28 easy to carry.

Furthermore, according to the embodiment, since
the halves la, lb are provided with the magnet 17 and
the magnetic body 18 to hold the 10 card folded in
halves by magnetic attraction, the halves la, lb will not
unfold when the 10 card 28 is folded and carried, thus
further facilitating the carrying of the 10 card 28.

Further, according to the embodiment, when the 10
card 28 is folded in halves, the control section 19 of the
first half 1a is connected to the transmitting-receiving
means 27 and the communication control section 22
provided in the second half lb, by the contact 10 and
the transmission-reception contact 15, so that the 10
card 28 can function as a non-contact 10 card. There-
fore, even in an 10 card system comprising contact type
terminals and non-contact type terminals, the 10 card
28 can be used with both type and eliminates the need
to use two different kinds of 10 cards corresponding to
the individual types.

While according to the first embodiment, the first
and second halves 1a, lb are designed to have a longi-

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tudinal dimension of D/2 and a lateral dimension of Wto
make the card body 1 Ibldable with respect to a lateral
folding line, an IC card 29 may be composed, as shown
as a second embodiment of the invention in Fig. 4, of
first and second halves 1c, Id each having a longitudi- 5
nal dimension D and a lateral dimension W/2 so as to
make the card body 1 foldable with respect to a longitu-
dinal folding line. According to the second embodiment,
the first half 1 a is provided with the elements provided in
the first half la according to the first embodiment, and w
the second half 1c Is provided with the elements pro-
vided in the second half 1b according to the first embod-
iment.

The present invention is not limited to the embodi-
ments described above and illustrated in the drawings, 15
but may be modified as follows.

The material of the magnetic body 18 is not limited
to a magnetic metal but may be a magnetic rubber or a
magnetic resin. In addition, the magnetic body 18 may
be replaced by a magnet disposed so as to face the 20
magnet 17 in opposite polarity arrangement. Further-
more, the holding means is not limited to the magnet 17
and the magnetic body 18. For example, the holding
means may also be achieved by providing a protrusion
and a recess or hole in the surfaces of the first and sec-
ond halves 1a, 1b so as to be engageable with each
other.

The self hinge portion 5 may be replaced by a sep-
arate hinge part by providing sheets 3 separately for the
first half 1a and the second half 1 and connecting the
separate hinge part to end portions of the abutting
upper and lower ends of the halves la and 1b.

The transmission and reception between the trans-
mitling-receiving means 27 and a terminal can be
achieved by not only FM signals but also AM signals or
PNM signals. In addition, microwaves, electrostatic sig-
nals or light may also be used as the air-propagating
signals if the construction is suitably modified.

While the present invention has been described
with reference to what are presently considered to be
preferred embodiments thereof, it is to be understood
that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embod-
iments. To the contrary the invention is intended to
cover various modifications and equivalent arrange-
ments included within the spirit and scope of the 45
appended claims.

[FIG. 1]

18 HOLDING MEANS so

28 IC CARD

lb HALF

1 5 TRANSMISSION-RECEPTION CONTACT

5 HINGE PORTION

1 CARD BODY 55

10 CONTACT

la HALF

17 HOLDING MEANS

[FIG. 2]
[FIG. 3]

22 COMMUNICATION CONTROL MEANS
CONTROL SECTION

23 CLOCK

24 TRANSMITTING SECTION

25 SWITCHING SECTION

26 RECEIVING SECTION

27 TRANSMITTING-RECEIVING MEANS

19 CONTROL MEANS
CONTROL SECTION

20 STORING MEANS
STORING SECTION

[FIG. 4]

1c
Id
29

Claims

HALF
HALF
IC CARD

25 1 , An IC card (28) characterized by comprising:

a card body (1);

a contact (10) provided in a surface of the card
body(1);

storing means (20) for storing various data; and
control means (19) for transmitting data to and
receiving data from an external device via the
contact (10) and for writing into or reading from
the storing means (20) the data to be transmit-
ted or received,

the card body (1) comprising a hinge portion
(5) which allows the card body (1) to be folded
substantially into halves in such a manner that
the surface provided with the contact (10)
comes inside.

30

35

40

An IC card (28) according to claim 1 , characterized
by further comprising holding means (17) for hold-
ing the card body (1) folded substantially in halves.

An IC card (28) according to claim 1 or 2, character-
ized in that, of the substantial halves of the foldable
card body (1), a first half (la) is provided with the
contact (10), the storing means (20) and the control
means (19), and that a second half (lb) is provided
with: transmitting-receiving means (27) for transmit-
ting various data to or receiving various data from
the external device by using an air-propagating sig-
nal; a transmission-reception contact (15) provided
so as to contact said contact (10) when the card
body (1) is folded substantially in halves; and com-
munication control means (22) for achieving data
transmission and reception between the control

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EP0 735 505 A2

means (19) and the transmitting-receiving means
(27) via the transmission-reception contact (15).

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FIG. 3

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